A Day Off Would Be Nice
by Jewell Trim
Summary: Four Corners hasn't seen any trouble for the pass couple of weeks and the boys are getting in some time alone. Only a few are assigned on jobs outside of town. When one of them is supposed to be returning back home and hasn't, it kick starts an impromptu rescue. Unfortunately things don't go as planned and they'll soon find out that there are no coincidences.
1. Chapter 1

The sound of branches snapping under their feet as they fled through the forest. It was too dark to see where they were headed and more than once did they stumble over a raised root or stone. One of the men was half carrying the other. The injured man limped on his good foot, trying to keep as much weight on his companion and not on his twisted ankle.

With the sounds of their heavy breathing and the noise they made as they ran, they weren't able to distinguish how far their pursuers were.

Nearing a clearing up ahead, the injured man began to slow down which cause the other to falter in his step.

"I don't believe I can keep this up much longer. I need to- I need." the man's words at the end began to slur as he slipped from his companion's grasp.

The clearing let out to a steep drop. As the man began to fall down, his friend grabbed ahold of him at the last minute before they both fell. Lucky for them, they were rolling down a hill that was more or less grass. There were huge rocks waiting at the bottom.

The man who had grabbed his companion before falling with him tried to control their fall and prevent them from slamming against the hard rocks. Their combined momentum however was too much for him to stop. Shifting the other man to where his head was protected against his chest and that his arms were up against his own, he closed his eyes as he turned so that his body would cushion the blow.

It sounded sickening as the sound of bone cracked when it hit the boulder. The man went slack, releasing the other man from his grip.

Getting onto all fours, his companion began to panic.

"Mister Larabee?" nothing. "Mister Larabee!" he called louder.

A low groaning noise from the blonde told him that the other he was still alive.

"Keep your voice down or they'll hear you." Chris muttered. Doing his best to open his eyes, he was only able to open left half way. "You alright?"

"My body has suffered no more damage thanks to your selfish act." frowned his companion.

"Selfish?" Chris growled, but was unable to do more. His right shoulder felt funny.

"Let me." Ezra said as he knelt down beside Chris and helped him to sit up to where he had his back up against the boulder.

Chris bit his lip, trying to keep as quiet as possible. Tears still escaped and ran down his cheeks, showing that he was in a lot of pain.

Ezra laid a hand on the former gunslinger's good shoulder.

"I hate to ask this of you, but do you think you can keep moving?" Ezra asked.

Chris seemed to be gathering all of his energy before putting his feet underneath himself and standing to his feet. Drips of sweat ran down his bare back and his neck. Even though it was mid-spring, he felt hot. Probably a sign that he was getting a fever. Ezra was a little slower getting to his feet because of his ankle. He too was missing his top half of his clothes.

Marks from being scratched up while they were running were all over their arms and sides. Ezra was riddled with mosquito bites to his annoyance. The blood suckers only seemed to like him. Chris barely had any while he looked like he had the horrid Chicken Pox all over again.

They walked slowly along the bottom of the hill. Ezra used the rocks to help him along while Chris carried his right arm in his left.

Luckily they didn't hear signs of their pursuers which offered them a chance to take it easy. Chris looked over at Ezra who looked disheveled and exhausted. He probably looked just as bad. Neither man had anything to eat that day, and only found a river to stop and drink at once.

With the way things were going, he predicted that they had three, maybe four days before they were dead or captured.

"Mister Larabee, I do believe that's a cave up ahead." the gambler pointed out just ten yards away.

"I'll go check it out while you stay here." Chris said, "I'm the only able to run right now if something were to be inside."

Ezra nodded and sat down on a boulder while he waited.

A couple minutes later Chris came back and said that it was clear.

Once they were in their little shelter Ezra plopped down on his rear unceremoniously. Chris slowly sat down a few feet away.

"Was it your shoulder that you hit?" Ezra asked, pointing to Chris' arm that he was favoring.

"Feels like it, but I won't know until morning. Let's try and get some rest. Lord knows we both need it." Chris laid down gingerly so as not to jostle his injury. Closing his eyes, he tried to think of something else besides the pain he was feeling.

Ezra sighed and laid down near him. Even though he was tired and wanted to sleep, his senses were on edge and every noise from outside his cave made him wake up. The sound of Chris coughing every now and then also made him open his eyes. Chris getting sick was another obstacle they would have to overcome before they could escape this hell hole.

"It seems that our luck may run out this time around." Ezra murmured.


	2. Chapter 2

Four days earlier…

Chris was late. It wasn't like he hadn't disappeared before, always on the anniversary of his family's death or their birthday to get drunk and have time alone. The problem was that it was none of these occasions and he was supposed to be returning from a job Travis had sent him on. The job had been completed and a telegram had been sent to the judge confirming as much. No other telegrams were sent, saying whether or not he was delayed or staying in another town for a while. His exact location was uncertain. His horse could've thrown a shoe in the trail and he was injured for all anyone knew.

The rest of the peacekeepers were otherwise engaged and unaware of this information.

Buck and JD were in another town handling another job with boys going missing and it wasn't clear when they would return.

Josiah had volunteered to go with Nathan to Seminole while the ex-slave worked and got time to spend with Raine. They hadn't had a chance to spend much time with each other because of Jackson's work, but the others thought it would be good for him to take the opportunity while crime was low and see her. They had left two days ago and wouldn't be back for a week.

Vin was at the reservation after being invited to two of his Cherokee friends' wedding. The celebration was only going to span over three days and he figured since Chris was going to be returning to town the next day and Ezra the day following, that things would be alright.

That was two days ago and there was no Chris still.

A lone rider came in, looking as exhausted as he felt. Stirring his horse over to the livery, he dismounted and gave Chaucer's reins to Yosemite, promising to return later. Chaucer wasn't very happy about not receiving his treats early, but followed the man into the stables after Ezra removed his saddle bags. After spending only a couple days with his mother, he felt tired. The trip back to Four Corners also wasn't too eventful. Those who saw him arrive greeted him, but other than a tip of his hat and a quick 'hello', he didn't say anything. He was in the mood for a hot bath and drink before bedding down for the night in his feather downed bed. After spending two days with Maude, he was in the mood for a few poker games, but that could wait till tomorrow.

Just as he had ascended the boardwalk and was about to enter the salon to go to his room for a change of clothes, he heard his name called and he looked around.

Standing behind him was Mary and she looked worried.

The gambler tipped his hat, "What may I do for you, Mrs. Travis?" he asked, giving her a polite smile.

"I know you've been away visiting your mother, but Mr. Larabee was supposed to return to town yesterday. There's been no word yet on where he is or when he is to return."

Ezra sighed silently. Normally it was Buck or Vin's job to keep track of their leader when he went AWOL. Standish's face was probably the last one the former gunslinger wanted to see if he was trying to hideout somewhere and get drunk. He also was aware of the woman's feelings towards the seven's fearless leader even though she never received encouragement from said man.

At times Ezra wondered if it would be better to save her the hurt and tell her the man was not ready to live the kind of life she was looking for with Chris. It wasn't his position though to butt in so he kept his lips sealed on his opinion. Instead he kept on smiling. "I'm sure that wherever mister Larabee is at, that he is taking care of himself, and knows what he's doing. He's probably taking his time on the journey home."

Chris certainly needed the time off. The man hadn't had one since Ella, and that was only because he was injured. Most days where he wasn't on patrol or doing a job for Travis, he was in the salon drinking away the pain and his day.

Mary still looked worried, but she nodded and went back to the Clarion.

Ezra let out a sigh before going to collect his things for a bath.

An hour later Standish was clean, dressed and finishing up a meal made by Inez, with a bottle of his hidden stash to rinse it down. After thanking her and going out to finishing up taking care of Chaucer, giving the horse plenty of peppermints and brushing him down.

It was on his way back up the stairs to his room for the night that he was stopped by the boy who worked at the telegram office.

Giving the boy a tip, he began to read over the missive. It was about time he had one from Mr. Larabee. Mary wasn't going to stay fooled for long by his explanation.

To his disappointment, he found that the message was for Chris from Buck.

 **This doesn't look like your average kidnapping STOP People are disappearing from more than this town STOP Doesn't look like it's just young boys now STOP Buck STOP**

Ezra frowned. He hadn't been here when Buck and JD had left to hear what was going on. It did however make him nervous. Sticking the telegram in his jacket pocket, he began to go up the stairs again only to be stopped by the boy running up to him again with another slip in his hand.

"Jest came in, mister. Right as I was 'bout to go into the office." the boy explained, sounding out of breath.

Ezra gave the boy his money and then read the new message. It was from JD this time.

 **First victim found dead STOP Died of starvation and thirst STOP Looks to have been tortured beforehand STOP Evidence of fake messages being sent STOP JD STOP**

Ezra sighed and went up to his room. He got changed for bed and got under the covers.

Chris was bound to be back by tomorrow. The man was disciplined despite his drinking episodes. He wouldn't stay too long from home without at least one message. A day to himself was fine, but if he didn't send a telegram tomorrow or come riding in, Ezra would have no choice but to go looking for him.

The thought of that made him groan in frustration. He couldn't even enjoy his bed and the sleep he was in much need of because he was thinking about Buck and JD's letters.

Someone was torturing kids and adults, torturing them and starving them. He didn't want to think of the things Wilmington had generously left out.

It didn't look like he was going to have a relaxing day at the tables tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 3

Ezra woke up around eleven. It was weird being able to sleep this late, but then he remembered why. He was the only one in town. There was no Vin to sneak up on him, no JD or Buck to come bounding through the door, or Chris to drag him from his bed.

Getting dressed, he went downstairs for a cup of coffee. The table where all the regulators usually sat was empty and he sighed.

Things definitely weren't the same without the others.

After finishing a second cup of coffee, he went out to go the telegram office and see if anything was there for him and possibly send one to Buck and JD.

The office was small and cramped, but the place was clean thanks to the young boy working hard to keep it clean while running messages to people. The owner was out that morning, so the boy was doing all the work.

He looked up as Standish entered.

"Mornin' master Tucker." Ezra smiled at the boy.

"It's pass mornin' mister Standish." the boy grinned.

Ezra nodded, "You're quite right. Do you have anything for me this _afternoon_?"

The boy checked but shook his head.

"I'll drop it off for you if something does come."

Ezra nodded and then remember the message he wanted sent out to Buck.

"Could you send this back to Mr. Wilmington for me?" he asked.

The boy nodded and got to work.

It only said that Larabee had not return yet from the job he had completed and is possibly hiding somewhere drinking.

Buck would know a few places Ezra could start searching if it was indeed necessary if the man in black hadn't returned by two.

Ezra spent the day avoiding Mrs. Travis. No doubt the lady would ask if he had heard any news from Chris, and since he had no new news to offer, he figured to remove himself.

On his way to Mrs. Potter's store, he was hailed by Master Tucker. At the same time he saw Mrs. Travis step out of the news office. It was like she had a sixth sense.

Ezra paid the boy and looked at the message. From the corner of his eye he could see the blonde woman crossing the dirt street to meet him.

Ezra read quickly.

 **Horse threw a shoe STOP Will be late returning home STOP No need to worry or come for me STOP Larrebe STOP**

Ezra frowned at the message but then smiled as Mary came up.

"It's from our esteemed leader. He writes that his horse threw a shoe and is taking his time coming back for that reason. See, there's absolutely no reason to worry."

Mary looked relieved, "Does he say when he will return then?"

"No, but I'm sure that is only because he forgot." Ezra smiled.

She nodded and thanked him before walking down the boardwalk.

The conman watched her go before looking back at the missive again.

The telegram had not been addressed to anyone specifically, only had Four Corners on it. The fact that the message said _not_ to worry or come looking him spoke volumes. That and the fact that 'Chris' spelled his own name was also a dead giveaway that the former gunslinger didn't send this.

It was sent from a town about two days ride from Four Corners. He would set out in an hour when everyone was at lunch.

Walking back to the telegram office, he sent a letter to the fake Chris.

 **Take your time Chris STOP Everything is good here STOP ES STOP**

With any luck, the person behind this would believe that no one would be coming.

His horse was saddled and his bags packed for his strip. He broke into Jackson's clinic to 'borrow' some of the herbs he used to relieve pain.

Since it was for a good cause, he didn't see how the healer could be upset with him for taking it.

Setting out just at three, he decided that he could ride most of the way tonight and then take his time the next day.

At seven the sun began to go down and he decided that it was time for him to stop for the night. He dismounted Chaucer and let the chestnut munch on grass while he took his things and set up camp for the night. It was only yesterday that he was doing this.

Sighing, he made himself some dinner and coffee. While he ate he looked over the messages he had received from Buck, JD and 'Chris'.

JD had written that someone was sending false messages, and Chris obviously knew how to spell his name. He wondered if this was connected to what Buck and their youngest member were dealing with.

But how could Chris, the Chris Larabee that instilled fear and respect from everyone, get kidnapped? It just didn't seem likely, or not unless he was injured before they took him. Chris would be the kind to fight back and wind up getting himself hurt in the process. Once he reached the town, he was going to send a letter to Vin to come and help him. The tracker would be useful and he was scheduled to be coming back by then.

Wishing that it wasn't his problem, he stuck the pieces of paper in his pocket and bedded down for the night. He watched the glow of the embers before finally falling asleep.

Ezra surprised himself by waking up early. It was just after sun up and he decided that he might as well get an early start on the trail.

After drinking a couple cups of coffee and throwing out the rest, he packed up camp and climbed onto Chaucer.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: So I finally got my laptop connected to my campus wifi. I owe you guys a chapter for yesterday so here are two for today.**

The town of Blackberry was similar to Four Corners except it had a few more shops. He tied his horse at a post and dismounted. Climbing the steps of the boardwalk, he entered the telegram office.

He tipped his hat to the lady who was behind the counter and she smiled at him.

"How may I help you this morning sir? It's pretty early. I just opened up not five minutes ago."

Ezra looked at his watch. It was pretty early. Barely ten in the morning.

"I'm sorry to bother you ma'am just after you opened, but I need to send a missive." he said as he handed her the message he wanted to be sent to Vin.

She nodded and got to work. She let him look over it before sending it.

He smiled and thanked her, giving her the amount he owed and a little bit extra.

"Do you by chance know who sent this letter? I received it yesterday. I came to take him home since his horse threw his shoe." Ezra asked as he handed over fake Chris' letter.

She looked at it and frowned. "Yessir I remember this gentleman. I can tell you his message was kinda odd."

"How so?" Ezra asked.

"Well my husband owns the livery and would've told me about fixing a horse's shoe. My sons also work over there and they didn't mention anything either. Maybe your friend was telling you a tale."

"The man who sent it, was he blonde, clean shaven, and dressed in all black? Mad at the world lookin'"

"No, he was definitely brown headed and had a beard. Shirt was blue with brown pants. Smoked a Cheroot. Remembered that part because I told him he couldn't smoke in here. Works at the private house twenty miles from here."

"Much obliged to you ma'am." Ezra said as he tipped his hat once more before walking to the livery to check out the woman's story.

The man there confirmed that no horse matching Pony's description had ever come in.

"What about a man with brown hair and a beard, blue shirt, brown pants, smoked a Cheroot?"

"Yeah I remember seeing him about. Bought some supplies at the general store. I see him from time to time, works about twenty miles from here. The family he works for own a lot of land over there. Most of it is forest. No trails or easy way to get there. They like their privacy." The man said as he wiped his face with a kerchief.

"Did you ever see a man dressed in black with blonde hair come through here at all?"

The man scratched his head before nodding, "Yeah, reckon I did. He went straight to the salon. Was on foot though when he came into town."

"Is he still here?" Ezra asked hopefully.

"No, never saw him again, but that was a couple of days ago when I did see him."

Ezra nodded and thanked the man. He then made his way to the salon.

It was pretty empty, still being early in the morning for people to start drinking. Committed drunks however were already at it.

Ezra walked up to the bar and slapped down his money. He ordered the best whiskey they had and after a drink to clear his lungs from the dusty trail, he started asking his questions.

"You see a man come in here about two days ago dressed in all black, has blonde hair?"

The bartender nodded, "Yeah I see him. Stayed for a while at the corner table drinking by himself. Homer joined him after a while, he works at those private lands up yonder. Man in black didn't seem to appreciate his company much. I did hear though when passing the table the man in black say his horse threw a shoe and he had to come into town to get help. "

"Couldn't he just walk the horse in?" Ezra frowned.

"If he was coming from the north then there's no easy way for a horse to climb up those rocky trails without causing more injury. Take about half a day out of the way to find another path."

"Did you see where the man in black went?"

"Oh right, I was saying how the man in black wasn't fond of Homer's company so he took a swing at him. They started fighting so I told them to take it outside. Homer can get pretty wild after a while. I didn't hear any shooting or nothing so I suspected they threw a couple more fist before going their separate ways."

"The man in black is my associate and he hasn't returned back home. Now he was last seen in this town." Ezra explained.

"You could have a go and try and ask Homer, the man he fought. Lives on that private property twenty miles out."

"The one in the middle of a forest." Ezra finished.

Instincts told him not to chance that. There was no trail from what he had gathered, so it was easy to get lost and possibly get injured.

Thanking the bartender he went back out and bought some supplies at the general store and got directions to the house in the forest. The woman who owned the general store told him that whatever his business he thought he had there should not be attempted.

That was another reason to feel uneasy. No one in town thought it was a good idea. His conscience said it was unwise, and the townspeople said it was foolish, yet he got right back on Chaucer and turned him in the direction of the house in the woods.

Ezra was told it was owned by a man name Eugene Waters. He was said to have had twelve sons, but most of them had died at an early age. Did some kind of hunting, probably because he had a nice size forest to hunt in. A worker had once let it slip that he imported their game now.

He reached the edge of the forest about four in the afternoon. Not seeing any point to go in until tomorrow, he stayed along the edge and checked out what he could see without going in. It was pretty thick for sure, and would be hard to ride a horse through. He tried to think of his options.

Not liking the idea of leaving his horse out by himself, he rode back to town and asked the livery owner if he could drop him off at the edge of the forest.

The man looked hesitant, but agreed to it.

Grabbing what he needed from his saddle bags, he set out a second time. It was around eight when they reached it.

The livery owner, who Ezra now knew whose name was Donny, left shortly after. The forest did have that intimidating feeling now that the sun was almost completely down and you couldn't really see what was inside, it was so dark.

Setting up camp, he tried to make himself comfortable, but when he tried to lay down to sleep, he didn't know if he should face the forest, which was creepy. Should sleep with his back to the forest, which spelled dangerous. Possibly even have his feet or head to the forest.

None of the options sounded favorable so he decided to stay awake. Keeping his gun in his hand, he listened for any strange noises coming from the forest.

It was the cry of someone asking for help that made him jump to his feet and grab a burning stick to hold up for light. He went into the forest, searching for the voice. A few times he called out for them, but he never heard anything again. Frowning, he stood there in the forest. His Remington in his left hand felt heavy all of a sudden and he kept turning around squinting in the darkness.

The sound of movement to his left made him aim his gun at the bushes and nearly jumped out of his skin when two men with no shirts on, stumbled into sight. They were pretty scratched up and lean. When they saw Ezra, they looked ready to run again.

"Fear not, no harm will come to you by me." he said as he lowered his gun, but kept it out. "What are you two doing in the forest late at night?"

"Trying to get out." one man said as he coughed. "No one has been able to get out though. We've been in here for almost a week now."

"No, it's been nine days!" his companion argued.

The two began to shove each other violently until Ezra had to break it up.

"I assure you it's possible to get out. All you have to do is keep going straight and you'll reach the edge."

"No, they turn you around if you get too close." said the first man. "How else do you think we haven't been able to escape?"

"Why are you even here?" frowned his friend. "You're obviously not a part of the game. Why the hell would you enter the forest?"

"I'm looking for my associate. He was last seen by a man who works for a mister Waters who owns this land." Ezra explained.

"Leave." the man cried and grabbed Ezra by the shoulders making him uncomfortable, "Leave if you still can and get help. You alone can't do anything. You'll only be caught."

A shiver ran down his spine as a noise from nearby sounded. The two half naked men ran off back into the woods, leaving Ezra alone. Putting out his fire, Ezra tried to keep from making any noises. His heart was beating so hard, he couldn't make out which direction the noise was coming from until he felt something hard hit him on the back of the head.

The blow stunned him and he fell, but it was the second hit to the head that made him lose conscience.

Ezra woke up in a cage. It was small, and he had to crawl on all fours to see from the door. It was dark still, meaning he only had been out for a short time. His head hurt immensely however and he had a hard time concentrating on finding out where he was.

When his eyes were able to focus in the dark, he started to take an assessment on himself. His coat jacket and shirt were gone, as well as his derringer, colt and Remington. His pockets were empty, and he thanked his lucky stars that he had put his money in a safe in town before coming out here or else that too would've been taken. He shivered a bit as he tried to figure out if he could open the lock or force it open by breaking the hinges. Annoying mosquitos bounced around him, making him smack himself trying to kill them before they sucked his blood.

Rustling noises and then footsteps were heard. Two men were talking to themselves and he wondered if they were the ones that put him in here. They were too far for him to hear what they were saying, but the sound of familiar spurs made his heart drop in his chest. Those belonged to Mr. Larabee he was certain of it. How they got them was uncertain. Either they killed him and took them, or stole them like they stole Ezra's things before setting him out into the forest.

Ezra wasn't even sure how long Chris had been out there, or if he was still alive.

The two men with their guns passed by his cage and he crawled to the back to avoid being seen. Sniffles from nearby made him guess there were others near him in cages. He wondered how many of them were there and where they came from.

It didn't sound like a boy crying, but a man. Probably another victim who was scared out of his wits.

Approaching the cage door again, Ezra tried to see if he could break it open without drawing attention of the two guards. As his fingers began working, he saw something emerge from the dark. He could only see the top half because the lower half was dark. The person crept over to where the cages were, and from the sound of it, he was unlocking the cages. Ezra watched as several men ran into the forest as well as a couple of boys. He stiffened as the figured knelt down to his cage door. He could only see the man's waist and legs. The door opened and the person stepped away for him to come out, but he didn't.

Ezra wasn't going to run blindly into the forest because somebody opened his door. It wasn't safe out there just as it wasn't in the cage he was sure.

The figure knelt down again, but this time poked their head inside. The light behind him made his face hard to see, but it didn't matter. "If you want a better chance at living you need to get out of there now." the man whispered.

Ezra crawled out of the cage and stood up to see the seven's leader. He looked like the rest of the poor victims; his shirt, duster and hat were gone, leaving on his britches and boots without the spurs. His frame was a bit leaner and was scratched up a bit. There were dark circles under the blonde's eyes as if he hadn't slept in a while.

Chris frowned, "Standish? How the hell did they get you?"

"Mister Larabee." Ezra smiled in relief, "You're a hard man to find."

Shouts from the two men coming back made Chris turn Ezra around and drag him into the forest.

Chris stopped after they had been running for ten minutes.

"Might I know the reason why we have stopped seeing how we're being hunted by people who think we're animals to be hunted?" Ezra asked.

"They don't immediately start chasing us until after an hour." Chris said as he began to walk.

Ezra didn't see how that was a reason to start letting his guard down, but he followed the blonde.

After a few minutes of silence Ezra began asking questions.

"So what exactly happened to you? Did those men actually overpower the great Chris Larabee?"

Chris stole a glance at his companion. "It's a little more complicated than that. I was sending Buck telegrams as I went on the job Travis sent me on. He told me him and JD were looking for some missing people in a town that was about forty miles away. After my job was done and I was headed back to Four Corners, I told him of my plans to join him after the next day home.

That was the last town I was in before Pony slipped a shoe. I knew there was a town nearby, but I wouldn't' be able to reach it with him so I tied her up in hopes of returning in a couple of hours.

First thing I did was go for a drink I was tired and I had ran out on the trail. When I was sitting down at a table, some man came down and thought he could join me. Even after I told him to leave he wouldn't. So since he didn't listen to words I thought a fist to his already ugly face would help him understand. We fought a couple of minutes before we were kicked out of the salon. I figured I best go and talk to the livery owner and was on my way over there when I was pushed in between two buildings and three men jumped me. Couple hours later I came to in a cage. Watched people who didn't want to leave them get tortured before it was my turn and I chose to run into the forest." Chris said as he finished his story.

Ezra swatted at a mosquito that was getting all up in his face.

"I was told by Mrs. Travis that you hadn't arrived yet upon my arrival back into town. It wasn't until the next day when some letter came in saying they were you and that your horse slipped a shoe and not to bother come looking for you. Now I was easily able to ascertain that if it were the true Larabee, then they wouldn't be bothering to tell us you were going to take some time to yourself. Your first instincts aren't really to tell us you're hiding to get drunk somewhere. That and the fact that I'm sure even if you were drunk out of your mind, you'd be able to spell your own name correctly." the gambler grinned.

"How many days have I been missing?" Chris asked.

Ezra calculated the time in his head, "If we go back to when you were supposed to have arrived the day before me. You've been considered missing from Four Corners' for three days."

"And I sent my last telegram to Buck two days before that so it's been five days."

"Since you've been in this forest?" asked Ezra.

Chris nodded and broke out into a fit of coughs before it subsided.

"Is there a way to find food and water out here?"

Chris nodded again "Once every other day, sometimes twice, they drop food out in the forest at different spots. If you reach it in time then you eat. Some don't make it or the food is already gone. There's a river that goes through the forest."

"When was the last time you ate?"

"Yesterday morning, or maybe it was the day before that." Chris shrugged and coughed again.

"I ran into two others before I was caught. They said that if you get too close to the edge then you're turned around. How?" Ezra asked as he stumbled a bit over a raised root.

Chris stopped to smack himself, probably one of the annoying insects that seemed to be trying to live off of Ezra's blood.

"There are men stationed near the edge. They make sure you don't get close. They'll catch you after running you to the ground and drag you back to the cage to start all over again. Sometimes if they don't feel like taking you back, they'll just start firing at you. Don't matter if they kill or injure you."

The blonde suddenly collapsed onto the ground, probably from the lack of energy and food.

Ezra didn't try and rush to stand even though their hour was almost up.

"Is there anywhere we can hide for the night so you can rest?" he asked after a few minutes.

Chris' eyes fluttered as he tried to open them and focus on the gambler's question.

"There is. Only a few however are considered safe zones. They change every day. I try stay as close to one as possible, but they're usually guarded during the day so it's best to keep moving until night when you have the darkness on your side."

"I have yet to see how not seeing is an advantage mister Larabee, but perhaps your senses are better than mine."

Chris ignored him and got to his feet, though he swayed a little before he started to walk again.

There were shouts from behind him and a light from a lantern. Ezra tried to urge Chris to go faster.

"Mister Larabee, it appears our hour is up, and we sitting ducks if we don't start moving."

"Rushing to a safe zone will get you injured. There are traps around them just so these sick bastards can have one last chance to shot one of us before we reach safety." Chris growled.

Ezra nodded and shut his mouth as Chris scanned the forest floor. He followed Chris' every step, making sure there was no chance of landing a foot in a hidden trap.

It was painstakingly slow however and Ezra was sure that they were just a dozen yards away from the sound of their voices.

Chris crouched down on all fours and went into a hole. Ezra following right behind them. There was barely enough room to stretch their legs and absolutely no room to even sit up.

"What is this place?" Ezra asked in a whisper.

"A secret safe zone. I found it yesterday. I'm pretty sure the hunters don't know about this place, but I checked the ground surrounding it just in case. This place is made up of a tree that sits right on the edge of a three feet drop. Its roots have grown to make this little hollow cave, and with the moss that grew over the roots, it's the perfect hiding spot." Chris explained as he pushed the moss in the way of his hole and they were completely hidden.

A minute or two passed by before the hunters walked pass their tree. Both men held their breath, and let it slowly out when they weren't discovered.

Ezra had to squint really hard to see what Chris was doing. It looked like he was fashioning a spear from a sharpened rock that was tied onto a stick, but a thin vine.

"You've certainly have become acclimated to your new surroundings." Ezra said with a shiver. It was from the cold, but Chris holding a makeshift spear, bare chested with smudges of dirt over his face and chest, his blonde hair now disheveled. Chris could pass as a man gone savage.

Chris snorted, "Once you start to feel like I do, after being here so long, you'll be making one of your own. It's the only real weapon I have, and I don't like feeling like I'm going out naked with nothing to fight with."

He then laid down, taking the closest position to the entrance. Ezra took a bit longer trying to find out how best to lay down before he finally gave up and just took the space next to the gunslinger. There wasn't much room for them to be any further from each other than a few inches.

Ezra listened to the noise outside their sanctuary. The sounds of guns going off made him shudder at the possible target. Looking over, he saw Chris' eyes were still open, probably having heard this for so long.

Closing his eyes, he tried to find sleep in his miserable situation.


	5. Chapter 5

Ezra woke up feeling nice and warm. His soft pillow was a little lumpy, but compared to his dreams, this was nice. Opening his eyes, he saw that he was in a little hole that was covered by roots and thick moss. His eyes fell to what he thought was his pillow, was actually someone's chest. His eyes roamed down to the little blonde hairs that went below the black pants. His heart was hammering in his chest and he sat up quickly only to knock his head on the low natured ceiling. He let out a low grunt that woke Chris up.

He prayed that the other man hadn't noticed.

Chris used his left arm to prop himself up and he began massaging his ribs.

"I think my fever is getting worse. I felt like I was sleeping with a boulder on my chest all night." he grunted.

Ezra didn't dare say that it was because he was half lying on top of Chris. He must've gotten cold, and Chris' warm body temperature was like a magnet.

"That's quite unfortunate to hear that your sickness is spreading." Ezra managed to say with a straight face. "What might or plans be for today, mister Larabee?"

Chris sighed and looked a little through the hanging moss, "We could chance it now and go out. First we'll have to find where the food is."

"I suppose I'm as ready as I'll ever be." Ezra sighed. If anything, he was ready to be able to stand up and stretch. He didn't understand how the former gunslinger, who was several inches taller than him, could repeatedly be in this position without getting sore muscles.

The blonde crawled out first with his spear and was followed by the gambler.

Now that there was light enough to see, Ezra inspected himself. He was riddled with bug bites that itched something fierce. Chris looked at him too and couldn't help the smile that spread across his face.

"Something amusing about me getting eaten alive, mister Larabee?" Ezra frowned and did his best not to scratch.

"Just that I'm surprised that the bugs like you. Must be because you have sweet blood."

"Well between the two of us, I guess the pest didn't have many options to be picky." Ezra muttered.

Chris barely had any bites on his arms and chest. It mostly had scratches made by running around in the forest.

"Let's get moving." Chris said as he turned to take the lead.

Ezra walked beside him as they trudged through the thick forest vegetation.

"Have you formed a plan at all as to how to escape? You must've come up with one after five days being here."

His question was met with silence from his companion and he frowned.

"Mister Larabee?"

Chris jerked his head to the shorter man walking beside him.

"You have a plan on how we can get out of here correct?"

The blonde clambered over a fallen tree base to the other side and didn't stop to wait for Ezra.

Ezra sighed in frustration. He knew that Chris liked silence and that he wasn't' much of a talked, but now was not the time for that. It almost felt as though he was being ignored on purpose.

"You can at least give me the curtesy of some reply." Ezra huffed as he ran to catch up with the blonde.

The sound of a gun firing and hitting a tree nearby made both men flinch. Ezra looked around behind him to see two men who he guessed were hunters.

"We need to find somewhere to hide." Ezra said quickly and turned to Chris, but the blonde was already gone.

Another shot missing Ezra barely set the man running.

He didn't know where Chris had ran to. The fact that he was just left behind surprised the gambler. Even though they never got along all the time, he didn't believe Chris might act upon an opportunity to leave him to die.

The uneven ground made it hard for him to keep himself upright as he blundered through the forest. No matter how tempted he was to look over his shoulder, he trained his eyes ahead, looking for some place to escape to and hide.

Ezra was grateful that he was fast. It had always been one of those advantages that he used when escaping with sore losers in poker games. Now though, he was running away from people who didn't know him or had any real reason to kill him other than for entertainment purposes.

Up ahead Ezra could see a clearing. He wondered if it was wide to keep heading in that direction or if there were other hunters waiting there to shoot him down as soon as they saw him run out. Choosing not to chance it, he turned and found a river cutting off his path. The water didn't look like it was going too fast that he would have much problem crossing, so he ran into it. The water was up to his waist and it was freezing by the time he got to the middle. Voices shouting behind him hurry to try and cross and his boot slipped on a mossy rock under the water. He felt the pain hit him instantly and he had to muffle his cries.

From where he was in the river, he calculated that even at his top speed with his injury that he wouldn't be able to reach the other side in time before the hunters found him. His only other option was to ride the current further down before getting out.

Lying on his back with his feet in the direction of where the current was taking him, he rode it in more or less comfort. A couple times he felt as if the injury was being aggravated more by doing this.

Five minutes passed before he waded to the bank and crawled out. Ezra wanted nothing more than to rest so his foot could recover, but he knew he should keep moving. Only until he got somewhere safe.

Chris was slightly confused. He had the feeling that he had been with someone earlier, but it could've been a part of his imagination like the other times. He had been alone for so long that he had imagined his friends there with him. Though he wouldn't wish any of them to suffer being hunted, Vin would've been really useful at a time like this.

He would imagine what Vin would say, how to find things that would be useful in tracking those who were hunting him, and finding hidden traps.

A few times he'd think of what Nathan had said which plants were edible and could be used medicinally.

Seeing Ezra in his imagination was unexpected, but since he had been in need of someone to talk to, it wasn't too bad hearing the southerner's voice. It had almost felt so real up until that morning when Ezra made him remember that he wasn't supposed to daydreaming about his friends and that he was supposed to be getting the hell out of here.

Looking at his Ezra, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was really there, but then the shot going off made him remember the real danger and he took off.

To his relief, it didn't seem as if he was being followed. Chris couldn't believe his luck that he wouldn't be run into the ground trying to escape.

He was dehydrated and starving. His stomach could easily give him away if the hunters were close enough to hear it screaming.

Reaching the food drop off that had been used a couple of times, he checked the surrounding area for any traps or hunters. When he was satisfied that there weren't any, he jogged out to the little hole where there was a bag lying inside of it. Before he even reached it, Chris knew that it was empty. Damn starving people probably went crazy at the sight of food and ate everything. He wouldn't blame them, doing the same thing in their place.

Instead of moving on, Chris actually sat down beside the hole. At this point he didn't care if he got shot. He was too tired and too hungry to keep fighting. His fever made it hard for him to tell what was real or not, and made him feel delusional.

The sound of somebody having a scuffle made him finally get up. He drew closer to the noise. If it was a hunter trying to attack a poor soul then he'd step in.

When he was about a couple yards away, he saw that it was two men, half clothed, fighting. They both looked scrawny and dark from their skin being exposed to the sun for so long. Chris had seen this happen his first night in the woods. He had tried to step in then, and was lucky to get out of it with a few bruises.

The men had went savage. The final outcome is only one of them walking away while the other bleed to death.

For all Chris knew, these men could've been close friends before all of this.

One of the men was finally able to climb onto the other and began beating him in the face.

In his mind, he felt that he should do something. That he was supposed to stop it, but another voice in his head told him it wasn't is fight and it wasn't safe.

He wasn't given an option because a shot fired off, warning that hunters were nearby. The man on top scurried into the forest again, but the other was too slow to get up was cornered by the hunters.

Chris hid behind a tree to keep himself from being discovered. His heart beating in his chest frantically. Part of him wanted to step out into the open and give the poor guy a chance at surviving. The other part of his froze his muscles and told his brain that going out there would be suicide and that self-preservation was better in this instance. The hunters laughed at the poor man who tried desperately to get away before the men decided to put him out of his misery.

Shivering internally, Chris kept deadly still until the men continued on, looking for the second of the two men.

He wondered when he'd become like those two men, fighting another poor soul, confusing them as the enemy before he was finally shot.

The former gunslinger had killed many men over the years. Many on his search for revenge after the death of his family. Now he went after men who killed innocent people, and kept the peace in Four Corners and the surrounding area with the other six men he considered brothers.

No, it was better that he was alone. He wouldn't have to worry about hurting someone else that way. Still it was miserable by himself. Talking to his friends that his imagination had created for him. He was curious as to why the imaginary Ezra hadn't come back. Chris figured that it was because no form of Ezra would stay in these conditions. That thought made him chuckle, and he picked himself up and began walking in the opposite direction of the hunters.

It was about an hour later that Ezra had thought himself safe enough to sit down and rest his ankle. He was sweating bullets, trying to endure the pain as he shuffled along.

Now, sitting on the ground with his injured limb raised on a rock, he tried to formulate a plan on how to get out of the forest. First he'd have to go find Chris. The man had disappeared so quickly, that it'd probably take him all day to find him again. With his new injury, Ezra wondered if that was going to be possible.

Closing his eyes, he tried to rest his body for a quick few minutes before getting up again.

Rustling noises from afar made him open his eyes. Ezra pulled his leg off the rock and scooted so that he was hiding behind a tree. It wasn't much of a hiding place, but he was too injured to run. He could only start praying to Josiah's God that he wouldn't be discovered.

Long minutes passed before it felt like everything was okay. That was when he felt like someone was behind him. He looked just in time to dodge the butt of a rifle from hitting him in the head. A pair of strong arms however grabbed him and dragged him from behind his tree. It was two of them.

Ezra let out a pain-filled cry as the movements made his ankle hurt even more.

The man dragging him dropped him and then the men proceeded in hitting him. His ribs burned and ached at every blow. He could only protect his face.

This lasted for what felt like to Ezra for ten minutes.

Chris had been walking for a while before he came across two men beating upon another poor soul. His first thought was to run and hide to ensure his survival, but a feeling told him to intervene.

Clutching his spear tighter, he ran to the first man and before the hunter could pick himself up off of his victim, Chris drove his spear into the man's stomach.

The expression on the man's face was that of shock.

Pulling the spear out of the man, he used it to knock the man in the side of the head before diving at the second hunter who was getting his pistol.

They rolled around on the ground before Chris was able to grab the man's gun and stand up and away from him.

He was breathing hard, eyes wild as he stared at one of the tormentors.

The hunter actually had the decency to look scared and try to talk Chris out of it, but it was lost on him.

The first shot was knee cap and the other in his shoulder. The man was screaming in pain before Chris finally shot him in the head.

His trigger finger didn't stop however, shooting the man until the bullets were all used.

"Mister Larabee?" came a hesitant voice from behind him.

Chris turned around and saw a man who looked exactly like Ezra, but then it couldn't be the gambler.

He frowned, not sure what he should do. Again he felt conflicted with helping this person or just killing him.

His brain reminded him that he needed to survive and should be concerned only with self-preservation.

Dropping his used up gun, Chris walked up to the man. He didn't say anything, but stared at him with wide deadly eyes.

The man on the ground who was injured tried to back up, but Chris had grabbed him around the neck, attempting to squeeze the life out of him.

"Missta- Lara- Chris!" the Ezra said, trying to breath.

He tried to pull Chris' hands away, but the blonde had a deadly grip.

 **A/N: I had to throw in some awkwardness in the beginning of the chapter, and I have half a mind to keep having it appear as a joke throughout the story.**

 **Poor Chris is losing it and can't trust his own mind let alone eyes, and Ezra's life is now in danger of being killed by him. What horrible author would write such a thing! Oh wait...**

 **Review please, I love comments.**


	6. Chapter 6

Ezra thought it was going to be the end.

Chris was cutting off his airway and his brain wasn't receiving enough oxygen. The look in Chris' eyes were different. The man looked scared and confused.

At the last second before Ezra lost consciousness Chris let him go and backed away.

Ezra coughed, trying to get air back in himself.

"I appreciate that you've finally come back to your senses, but I must say you were cutting it a little close there." he gaged.

Chris ran his hands through his hair and wiped his face with his arm. He didn't take his eyes off of the shorter man.

"You can't be." Chris stopped what he was going to say and started over, "You're real?"

"As you should know since you almost killed me with your bare hands." Ezra said, rubbing his neck.

Chris looked at his hands. There was a bit of blood on them from the man he had stabbed with his spear.

Ezra looked at them too.

"No need to think over it mister Larabee. He would've killed you if given the opportunity, and myself."

"I thought you were visiting your mother in San Francisco?"

"I was, but I came back already. Don't you remember me telling you all of this yesterday?"

Chris frowned and then it hit him.

"That was really you the other night, and this morning? I just left you with those hunters." he felt the weight of guilt as he ran his hands through his hair again.

"No worries, mister Larabee, as you can see I escaped mostly intact." Ezra said while putting on one of his grins.

Chris wasn't buying it, "What happened to your foot?"

"That, well I slipped on a mossy rock while trying to cross the river to escape my pursuers." Ezra explained while letting himself grimace at the pain.

Having the younger man injured helped to clear Chris' thoughts and he began looking through the dead hunter's things to see if he could find anything to help the gambler.

There wasn't much and Ezra was opposed to using the hunter's clothes, even the non-bloody parts, to be used to wrap his foot. Chris found a flask which was halfway empty. Even though he really wanted to drink it, he gave it to Standish to help with the pain. The owner of the pistol only had a few more bullets left on his belt, but he took them anyway. The rifle was also taken before Chris turned and helped Ezra to stand. He let the other man lean heavily on himself to prevent from putting too much pressure on his injury.

"Were you able to find food?" Ezra asked hopeful.

"It was all gone when I got there." Chris sighed. He didn't want to talk about food. Not having ate for several days.

"And I'm guessing when they find that two of their associates are dead, they won't look too kindly to the rest of us still out here." Ezra hissed as he shuffled alongside Chris, trying to keep from aggravating his foot.

Chris cursed under his breath. He had doomed the rest of them to their deaths.

Chris pulled Ezra along, trying to think of where to hide his comrade. It was still early in the evening, but with the trees in the way, it felt darker.

The sound of a snapping branch from behind made Chris turn around as best as he could with his gun.

It was a small group of other poor individuals like themselves.

Ezra too watched them warily.

"Is it just me, or do they bare the same look you did when you were killing those hunters and almost killed me?"

"We need to run." Chris answered and stuffed the gun in his pants before getting a better grip on Standish and taking off.

Their top speed was still pretty slow as they began to be running in the dark.

The first time they were over taken, Chris had to fight off one of the savage men, sacrificing the last few bullets he had in his pistol.

When they fell down the hill, he had lost the rifle in the dark, and was too injured to go looking for it. Ezra had been so focused on getting under some form of shelter that he didn't search for it either.

After being away from everyone for three days, he was ready to see his friends again. At least two of them should've been back by now from their trips.

Vin rode his horse, Peso, up to his wagon and dismounted. Stretching his sore muscles, he tied his horse up and began taking his saddle and saddle bags off. He figure when he was done with this he'd go to the salon where Chris and Ezra would most likely be. Chris drinking, and Ezra at his poker table playing a few rounds. It would be nice to sit with them at their table for a couple of drinks and catch up with them.

He had a great time visiting his Cherokee friends, the celebrations were great and it was nice to talk to them about what he had been up to. Vin hadn't seen them for a couple of months, and many of the little ones were now prepping for their first hunts. The ex-bounty hunter was excited for them. It was always exciting to go on your first hunt.

He spent some time with the younger Cherokee children, teaching them how to tell which creature they were hunting down, it was really important. Knowing whether or not it was just a prey or another predator out there made all the difference in safety.

Smiling, Vin finished up everything at his wagon and made his way to the salon. Once inside, he had to wait for his eyes to adjust, but it wouldn't make a difference. The table Chris and the others usually gathered at was empty, and Ezra wasn't at his normal table playing poker with the men seated there.

Walking up to the bar, he waited until Inez came out so he could ask where the others were at.

When she came out from the back with some other customer's food, she quickly set it in front of her patron and made her way to the tracker.

"Gracias al cielo, where are the others?" she asked.

"I was hoping you could tell me. Shouldn't Chris and Ez be back by now?"

"Yes, but Senor Chris hasn't been back at all and Senor Standish only returned for a day before heading out. I suspected he went to go get Senor Chris, but no one has heard anything for two days now."

"Why was Ez going to go get Chris?" Vin frowned. It didn't seem like for the gambler to do.

"Senor Chris' horse threw a shoe and said he'd be a little longer out before returning."

Vin nodded, not feeling good about the situation. There was definitely something going on.

Tipping his hat, he went back out of the salon and across the street to the telegram office.

Young Tucker was seated on a stool when he came in.

"Vin!" the boy cheered with a big grin.

"Hey pard, do you have anything for me?"

The boy nodded and dug in a small book for two old telegrams that he had saved. He handed them to Vin who paid him.

Vin had spent many long nights with Ezra and some even with Buck to learn how to read. He did initially try to learn from Mrs. Travis, but then figured the other men would give him things he'd actually be interested in reading for his lessons.

Buck turned out to be a surprisingly good teacher, also one for poetry writing, mostly about women though. Ezra was able to acquire books about hunting and borrowed a few dime store novels that JD was so fond of reading.

What he read from Buck confirmed his suspicions that something was wrong.

 **Chris is missing STOP Ezra is going to look for him in Blackberry STOP May need your assistance STOP I'm on my way there now STOP Buck STOP**

Vin looked at the second telegram next that followed the first.

 **Please get Nathan from Seminole STOP He may be needed where we're headed STOP Buck STOP**

The tracker walked quickly from the telegrams office and almost ran into Mrs. Travis.

He apologized to her.

"It's okay Vin, but have you heard from Mr. Larabee or Mr. Standish?" she asked.

"Last I heard Chris' horse threw a shoe and Ez went to get him. Might be hard though since Chris don't listen to no one." Vin said with a grin.

"Maybe he'll listen to a woman?" Mary suggested.

Vin politely smiled, "Don't think even God has that power ma'am."

He didn't want to dissuade her, but the man was clearly not into her. Sarah and Adam would always be his one and only family it felt like. Though they were polite in company, Vin could only see them as being friend. That's what he and Ezra had agreed upon. With the idea that JD, Nathan or even Buck would be the ones to marry in the group.

Once Mrs. Travis was on her way again to the general store, Tanner jogged back over to his wagon and began packing his things. He went over to Yosemite's livery and rented a horse to ride over to Seminole.

When he got there two hours later, he found Josiah talking to the chief while Nathan was helping around with people who was sick. Raine was nearby, assisting the healer which made Vin smile. Those two deserved to get together. Raine had proven herself willing to fight for those she loved and understood what Nathan and the other six men did was important.

After being to one wedding, Vin felt as if he was ready for more to celebrate.

Josiah, who had finished up his probably long discussion with the chief had stood up to great the tracker.

"Afternoon brother. What brings you this way?" asked the bigger man.

"Nothing too good I'm afraid, but I don't know much. Buck seems to think Chris is in some form of trouble. Ezra had went first to look for him, but no one's heard from him since either."

Josiah nodded, and went over to his friend to tell him the news. Vin was offered something to drink while he waited. He watched as the black man hurried to pack his things. Supplies he might need for healing, before saying goodbye to Raine.

Josiah said he'd leave later on and head back to Four Corners. Someone should stay in town to make sure that everything was fine there.

"So do we know anything else?" Nathan asked once they were headed in the direction of Blackberry.

"No, but once we make it to Blackberry, I hope Buck will be able to explain things more."

"You think Ezra found Chris?"

"Hopefully." Vin sighed, "I'd feel better knowing that they were together and not split up."

"You know those two don't necessarily get along right?" Nathan grinned and the thought of those two men together.

"Yeah, but I don't think Chris would actually make good on any of his threats to Ez. Especially if they're in danger. Besides, I think Chris actually likes Ez. He just doesn't like his mouth sometime." Nathan gave Vin a look, "Okay most of the time." Vin laughed.

 **A/N: So I should probably say that I don't ship Mary and Chris. Neither do I ship Ezra and Inez. I'd rather have them single and available for all to love! Plus the whole bros before ehm... you get the rest. Not that I think that of the ladies. I just want them for myself, but I'm sure I'm not the only one here. Bromance or guys chilling together with no slash, just awesome friendships. That's what I like.**

 **First day of classes and I feel overwhelmed already. Hopefully I won't fall behind in posting chapters.**


	7. Chapter 7

The next morning couldn't have started out worse for the starved men. Chris lay on his back, drenched in sweat from his high fever and injured shoulder while Ezra shivered next to him, his head slightly on the other man's chest.

Despite what he said that he would never let himself get caught sleeping with the blonde, Ezra was enjoying the heat that radiated off of his companion. His own arms were wrapped tightly around his own chest, trying to keep his own body heat from leaving.

The temperature had dropped during the night and decided to rain. It was only a slight drizzle, but it kept them in their little cave.

Chris was the first one to wake. A painful itch in his throat started another coughing fit that lasted a minute before he was able to relax again. Despite feeling a little delusional, he had felt it when the southern had cozied himself closer to himself. If the situation was different, Chris would have no doubt that the man would be swearing up and down that he'd never do such a thing or even suggest it. The smaller man however had been shivering all night and was cold. Larabee welcomed the cool skin, bringing down his own rising temperature. He actually pulled the man so that he was laying half on Chris' chest to cool himself off more. It made it harder to breathe, but it was worth it in his opinion.

Now though, he was awake, and needed to sit up so he could go to the bathroom. He only had one shoulder working now and didn't want to unnecessarily aggravate it, so he decided to wake Ezra.

As always, it took a couple of minutes before Ezra opened his eyes, and another couple minutes before he was able to understand what was going on. To say that he was shocked would be an understatement. Ezra pushed himself as far away as he could in their little shelter.

"Do something wrong, Standish?" Chris asked with a raised eyebrow. It was all he could manage.

"I swear on my mother's name that I was not laying on you when I fell asleep last not. I may have possibly moved when I was sleeping, but please do not think I did it with any intent for—anything other than warmth. It's just that—"

"Hell Ezra, I know what you're trying to say and I could've said it in one sentence. You're cold and I'm burning up from my fever. I can careless if you used me as a heat source, because I confess I was using you to cool down."

"So we were using each other." Ezra sighed, kind of relieved that Chris wasn't going to try and kill him for putting him in what public eyes would call a compromising position.

Ezra ran his hand throw his hair and then felt his face. He was well on his way to getting a beard. Larabee already was sporting a pretty nice size beard, it was an inch long, and even his hair grew a little, his bangs falling in his eyes.

"I think we should get water and then possible search for food." Ezra suggested.

"What's the point?" Chris murmured before he broke into a coughing fit.

The gambler frowned, "Did you just say what's the point? How about getting those things to keep on living till we get out of this godforsaken place or someone finds us!"

Once Chris' coughing fit ceased he only turned his head slightly, his eyes looking up at the other man as if he were crazy for believing in the idea.

"Does anyone even know we're here? I mean here and not missing?"

"I sent a missive to mister Wilmington before I came in search for you. I'm confident in your old friend that he can put the pieces together."

"Buck will just get caught like me and you."

Ezra frowned and only shook his head. He couldn't understand how Vin and Buck liked hanging around the guy when he was so pessimistic.

"I'll go find some water and see if I can find food. You can sit here and prep yourself for death." the southern grumbled as he crawled out of the cave and stood up in the drizzling rain. He shivered again, but he forced himself to move.

The rain thankfully stopped after a while, but not after Ezra was drenched through. He had been shuffling for ten minutes trying to find out where he was when he heard something behind him. Practically falling to the ground, Standish grabbed a long fallen branch and wielded it as a weapon if it was more savages. To his shock, Chris appeared, moving slowly and swaying a bit.

Ezra lowered his branch.

"Couldn't leave you to get lost by yourself. I've been in these woods for five days and have a better idea where things are at." Chris murmured.

Ezra smiled and sighed in relief. He never would've admit it, but he felt better knowing that there were two pairs of eyes to keep a look out. That and he didn't want to be alone. Guessing the other man felt the same enough to ignore the pain in his shoulder which was looking worse, to come looking for him.

The two walked at a slow pace, neither able to manage anything over a shuffle. Neither man talked, but their stomach did that for them, talking to the other about the last meal they had.

"This place is different." Chris said after walking for a half an hour.

"How do you mean?" Ezra frowned after sneezing. He was probably going to get sick soon.

"Well, I never went down the hill before. The one we fell down last night. We maybe off of the Waters' property."

"How could we be so fortunate as to do that?"

"Those men I killed probably were the one's watching this side of the forest and after they were gone, we were able to escape." Chris surmised.

"Well I still don't see how this as an improvement. It only means that our friends won't know where we are if we continue this way." Ezra sighed.

"You want us to turn around and go back?" Chris looked at Ezra as if he was crazy.

Ezra felt kind of bad asking Chris, but it was their best chance of being discovered. That or killed.

"I know it isn't preferable."

"Try insane!" Chris growled, "I ain't going back. You can't make me."

The smaller man stepped away from his companion, who was getting upset. Knowing it was best not to anger a person who would try and kill you if he was determined enough. Ezra tried to compromise with the blonde.

"If you can come up with a better solution then we can do that."

Chris looked around, as if he was searching for his idea in the woods.

"We can try and head out of the forest. Once out in the open we can be able to signal help."

"But we will also be vulnerable to attack by any miscreant that might be passing." Ezra pointed out.

"Who would want to rob our broke asses." Chris snorted.

Ezra had to agree to that. Half naked, sick and injured, they weren't worth much to anyone.

Letting Chris decide on which direction to head into, the two began heading west. They were still incredibly thirsty, but Chris was determined to get out of the forest, that he didn't want to stop and rest. His coughing had slowed him down several times and Ezra lagged behind because of his twisted ankle, but by the time noon hit, they had finally made it out into the open.

The first thing they saw was a cloudy sky with the sun trying to peek out.

It was nice being out in the open, but that did leave the question of what to do next. If they tried to walk back to Blackberry it would take them till after nightfall.

"Where to next mister Larabee." Ezra sniffed. He had bene surveying the area around him that by the time he looked back in Chris' direction, the blonde was halfway finished collapsing.

Ezra cursed under his breath and knelt down next to the unconscious man.

His skin was dry now, his body trying to conserve liquid. His lips cracking and the dark circles under his eyes only looked worse. Shallow breaths made the gambler nervous as the man wouldn't open his eyes.

They were so close.

They were so close, Vin could feel it. They had made it to Blackberry and met up with Buck at the salon. The lady's man had already asked the locals about their friends and Wilmington had recovered Chaucer. The chestnut horse was happy to see his friends and playfully butted heads with Buck's horse who pushed him away.

"Anything?" Vin asked Buck as he ran his hand over Chaucer's neck.

"The man who owns the livery says that Ezra asked him to take him to the edge of the forest which is mostly on the property of a man named Waters. Said he was looking for a man that fits Chris' description. Some of the locals helped me find Chris' horse. He's getting another shoe right now."

"What do we know about Waters?" Vin frowned.

"Recluse. Has hired hands come into town for him. Has several boys, all that's left of his brood. They do a lot of hunting in their forest. No path to actually get to the main house."

"What's the plan then?" Nathan asked, feeling anxious to do something instead of just standing there.

"Nathan I'm going to ask you to stay here and get things ready for when we bring them back." in the back of Buck's mind, he was praying that they were still alive, but he didn't voice it. "Vin, Donny the livery owner and I will go with a wagon in an hour. Want to be able to get to them so they don't have to stay out there longer than they have to."

Both men nodded and got ready. An hour later, Vin and Buck were riding alongside the wagon Donny was driving.

"You guys seem like good friends, so don't be offended when I ask this but where were you all when the first guy disappeared? Ain't safe for one person to travel alone even if you guys are peacekeepers like you say you are." Donny asked.

"Normally it is at least two of us together, but Chris likes to travel alone when he can to be able to stop in a town an drink till he's out." Buck smiled, thinking about his old friend, "Hell, the man has gone through hell already and has been riding by himself for years. I never thought something like this could happen."

"That someone could get the drop on cowboy?" Vin grinned too, "It does seem a little impossible." he murmured, his smile disappeared and he concentrated on the forest in the distance.

Chris was out for an hour before he opened his eyes. He was sitting up against a rock, his shoulder looking a little purple. He grunted in pain as he shifted a little to look around. He didn't know how he had gotten there, but all he knew was that he was out! He wasn't in the forest anymore.

Slowly, he got to his feet and tried to find the best direction to walk in. He needed to keep heading west to get to that town he was in, and he needed to find his horse.

As he walked, he noticed that the ground felt differently and he looked to see that he was barefoot. He hadn't seen his boots where he had been sleeping so he had guessed he had abandoned them a while ago.

The sharp little rocks hurt his feet, and he'd occasionally wince in pain, but for the most part, he was too out of it to show any other reaction.

"Mister Larabee!" came a voice from behind him.

Chris slowly turned and saw someone trying to catch up with him. He squinted through his glassy eyes to concentrate on the face. He could've sworn it looked like Ezra, but the Ezra he remember wouldn't be half dressed hobbling after him barefoot.

It was a sight to see though and he smiled. His mind created the funniest things apparently.

When the image continued to only get bigger he frowned. Chris couldn't understand why the vision wasn't disappearing. Ezra wasn't there for real.

The blonde backed up and tried to turn and run.

It was kind of a funny sight. Two men, neither capable of running. One shuffling to evade the other hobbling after him.

Ezra reached Chris eventually though when Chris had to stop and keep himself from throwing up his head was spinning so much.

When Ezra touched him and asked if he was okay, Chris pulled himself up and punched Ezra in the face. Both men screamed in pain. Chris from aggravating his bad shoulder and Ezra from falling on his twisted ankle.

Chris however seemed to recover first enough to continue on his attack. Since he knew not to use his right arm, he grabbed the nearest thing to him and straddled Ezra's chest. A rock in his hand the size of a grapefruit, he planned on using it to beat the fake Ezra in the head.

Ezra grabbed onto the hand with the rock and tried to keep it away from him. Chris bit his arm until he was only holding onto Chris' arm with one hand.

"Mister Larabee!" Ezra growled, "Chris!"

A shot from somewhere close by made Ezra jump in surprise. Chris' bad shoulder was now bleeding from a bullet wound and he fell to the area beside the gambler. Ezra scrambled to his knees and checked on Chris. The man was screaming in pain, holding his arm.

Ezra's head was spinning. Had the hunters tracked them to out here? Had the poor savages picked up the rifle they had lost and were now trying to finish them off?

Looking over his shoulder, he spotted the shooter. They were surprisingly on a horse, and there were three of them.

Not having anything to drink in almost two day besides the half-filled flask, he couldn't trust his eyes. It looked like Vin and Buck.

Vin was holding his sawed off up still ready to shoot again.

Ezra raised his hands, "Please cease fire, Mister Tanner. It's only Mister Larabee and myself." he called out.

Vin lowered his gun and both he and Buck ran over to them.

"Hell I thought that was some rabid man like what we saw a mile back." Buck muttered as he helped to sit Chris up and try to put pressure on the man's injury. Chris screamed in pain.

"Careful. I think he may have broken a bone in his shoulder." Ezra said as Vin handed him his canteen.

Buck tended to Chris, wrapping the bullet wound tight before getting some more strips and putting the right arm in a sling.

"How are you Pard?" Buck asked Ezra next. "Your foot is turning a different shade and is blowing up some."

"Only a twisted ankle." Ezra said with gritted teeth as Vin wrapped said ankle.

"Well Nathan is waiting for you boys back in town. Found a couple more of you missing boys wandering around. Some were a little too rabid and tried to attack us or others like them. Had a harder time restraining some of those boys. Others were too exhausted that they could barely stay on their feet." Buck explained.

"I'd be most appreciative for the both of us if you could take us somewhere warm and dry." Ezra said tiredly.

Vin nodded and helped him to stand while Donny and Buck carried Chris who was unconscious again.

The boys were finally starting their journey back home.

 **A/N: Sorry if this feels rushed. I promise there will be more chaos before I end this tale. The boys can finally start healing! After Vin caused more damage to Chris because he honestly doesn't look like himself.**


	8. Chapter 8

Nathan had rented a room in the boarding house to treat his patients in. It had two beds fitted inside which would make it easy to attend them both. He waited impatiently outside, watching the trails for any signs of his friends and the wagon.

The lady who ran the telegram office walked across the street to him and offered him a smile. The healer had met her earlier as the wife of the livery owner. In fact, the town was pretty small, most of the shops being run by families that had been in the area and the children had all grown up together.

Until the kidnapping, the town hadn't seen any previous crime bigger than a brawl after too much to drink. Nathan wondered if the townspeople were aware of the possibility of one of its citizens were kidnapping, torturing, and killing innocent people. He decided to ask Wendy, the telegram operator.

The woman looked nervous, "I ain't one to talk ill of another human being, but the last time I saw them Waters boys, the ones who are still alive, they were talking all sorts of nonsense. Said that they were going to find something to hunt that was an intelligent enough creature to make it a challenge. That was over a year ago. Since then it's only been the hired hands that work there that come down into town."

"Has anyone disappeared from town that you haven't seen recently?"

Wendy shook her head.

Nathan held off his line of questioning when he heard the sound of the wagon coming in.

He dropped down from the board walk and ran to meet them.

What he had expected was nothing compared to a thin and sickly looking man who was tan and sporting a rurly beard. He was half naked and had almost his entire right upper side bandaged. The man was unconscious as Donny and Buck carried him out of the back of the wagon and into the boarding house.

A rough looking Ezra came next out of the wagon. He too was missing his shirt and sporting a short beard. He was riddled with mosquito bites and had his foot wrapped. Vin helped him hobble into the boarding house after the others.

There were a few more men still in the back of the wagon and Nathan frowned and looked questioningly at Vin.

Vin gave a sad smile, "The rest of the missing people we reckon. Most are unconscious. They'll need to be detained. Most will attack you like a rabid dog. Once they're given food, water and a warm bed I'm sure they'll start to recover."

Nathan nodded. He found a few men who were willing to help move them into the jail. For now, they would have to be locked up, but he'd see that they got food and water before seeing them for their wounds which some were sporting. First though, he wanted to see how Chris and Ezra were.

Ezra woke up after what felt like a short nap, but was really more like three hours. Looking across the room he saw Chris was still sleeping.

Buck had helped both men shave. Helping Ezra and doing it for the unconscious blonde.

He was wearing a shirt now, his bug bites covered in cream. All forty of them. Vin had counted. It felt hot having the layer on, but he didn't care. Nathan had confirmed that he was coming down with something, but hopefully it wasn't going to be as bad as Larabee's. Chris after all had went a couple more days without water and food than he did.

Nathan had put the gambler's foot and ankle into a splint to help it heal properly after tending to Chris' copious amounts of wounds, bruises, and bullet hole. Vin had told Ezra later that Chris had a broken shoulder blade, two cracked ribs and three bruised ones. He also had the bullet wound from when Vin had shot him, and a bad fever.

The blonde looked like a corpse already. Ezra couldn't help feel a pang of sympathy for the man. He was clearly in a lot of pain, but never once woke up or screamed in pain. His brows only scrunched up and he was sweating profusely. Slipping out of his own bed with a bit of difficulty, he crossed the room and sat on the bed next to Chris. His hand held onto the ex-gunslinger's, just like the man did when he was lying in Nathan's clinic for whatever brought him there.

Despite how often they argued and fought, he cared about the man like he cared about all of the others. They were the only family he truly had.

For a brief moment, hazel eyes looked up at him and he smiled and squeezed the man's hand.

Vin and Buck came into the room after taking a break to eat some dinner. Nathan was still at the jail attending the other survivors.

Buck was the first one in the door and he stopped before he took another step in, making Vin ask what the problem was.

Vin peeked over the other man's shoulder and he too looked surprised at first before he had to hide his laughter.

Ezra was lying on Chris' bed, curled up against his side. Both men were asleep.

"I wonder now exactly what went on during their time alone in the forest." Buck snickered, pulling Vin into the room before closing it so no one could start looking inside.

"Hell Buck, you know it probably ain't like that. The temperature at night drops pretty low and they probably couldn't start a fire at night. Didn't leave them with much for warmth." Vin said, trying to come up with a plausible explanation for finding his two friends sharing a bed.

"I know a thing or two about the benefits of cuddling, Hoss. You just got to find the humor in seeing these to doing it. Hell, Chris and I have done it before when one of us forget a bedroll. Ezra and Chris though, that's like asking God to have Ms. Inez to accept a dinner invitation from me."

Vin shook his head and smiled, "Do you think we should move Ez back into his bed. I know none of us won't judge, but anyone else outside of our group might start asking questions, or won't even do that."

"We'll be here for now so I don't see the hurry." Buck grinned deviously.

Vin rolled his eyes and took up Ezra's bed and stretched across it. Since he wasn't going to use it he would.

Chris woke up after thirteen hours of being out. Nathan was there to give him something to drink and then some medicine. Larabee pinched a face at the smell of the medicine, but he drank it. His mouth felt so dry, he didn't think he'd be able to talk for a while. He had to pause to cough up a lung, but after that, Chris was allowed to relax up against the soft pillows behind him. Ezra was sitting on his own bed eating, and he found his meal was sitting off to the side if he wanted it. Though his stomach growled in want of it, he probably wouldn't be able to get much down.

Nathan had told them about the other men who were sleeping in jail. They were also in pretty bad condition, ready to strike at anyone who got close without being restrained. Families had been contacted of their found loved ones, but were told to give them time to recover before coming to retrieve them.

 _If they were capable of going back home._ Nathan thought.

"So I think once Chris' fever goes down some, we can start heading back home." Nathan finished. He looked to both men to see their reactions.

It seemed like Chris had tuned out at the end and Ezra was offering the healer one of his smiles he gave when he was faking it.

"Are neither of you in a hurry to go back? If not we could stay here longer." Nathan offered.

"We still have to finish looking into the Waters family." Buck nodded.

Ezra stole a glance at Chris who was still staring off to the empty corner in the room. He turned back to their friends, "I'm sure we'll be ready to return home once Mister Larabee's fever ceases to ail him." he said, speaking for the both of them.

So far, the others had noticed that Chris hadn't said much if anything at all. Ezra did most of the talking for him.

Nathan just nodded and the three left their friends after clearing the dishes to let them sleep.

"Anyone else noticing how their relationship has changed?" asked Nathan in a whisper.

"I was thinking mostly about how Chris hasn't been all here of late. Like his mind is somewhere else." Buck said sadly. He hoped his old friend was going to be able to bounce back soon.

"When I was living with the Indians, sometimes we happen on some youngsters who've been kicked out by their village. Weeks by themselves takes a toll on everyone. The chief said that no matter the case, humans are social creatures or we just crawl inside our mind and lose ourselves. I'm guessing that Chris is a little lost and Ezra is the only thing still connecting him to reality." Vin said.

"I hope Ez can get him back soon or else it's going to be hell when we return home." Buck sighed and rubbed his temples, "I can already feel the headache of JD buzzing around trying to be helpful and Mary never wanting to leave his side."

Vin turned and looked at the older man. As Chris' oldest friend, he would know about the interest Mary was showing their leader. He wondered if he was in support of the relationship. Buck always supported anything that made Chris happy. The man obviously could use some happiness.

Buck saw the young tracker looking at him suspiciously. "What?"

"You're for Mrs. Travis pursuing Chris?"

"You don't? I think they're perfect for each other."

"I guess." Vin frowned.

"Why are the both of you so interested in Chris' love life anyway?" Nathan asked.

"Well since I'm having no luck in mine with Inez, I have to find something to distract me." Buck grinned.

"Maybe if you try that abstin—whatever word Ez used, maybe you'd stand a better chance." Vin grumbled.

"Why are you against them?" Buck asked.

"I just think everything is fine the way things are now. I don't want things to change drastically. Nathan will probably marry Raine soon, and JD's courting Casey. If Buck wises up he might stand a chance with Inez. But if Chris marries Mary, I just think that'd be the end. He'll become some rancher and we'd have to go our separate ways."

"Tell us what you really think." Buck joked. "I'm sure things won't change that much."

Vin sighed, "It's just that for some of us, this is the only family we have, being a part of the seven. I don't want to see that go away."

Buck put an arm around Vin's shoulders.

"Nothing's going to change. You're stuck with us till the end."

Nathan frowned, "How many of you feel like things might change if some of us get married?"

Vin shrugged, he wasn't going to give away names.

"Well JD would definitely be one." Buck laughed, "So him, Vin—Josiah would be fine with it—that leaves." Buck frowned. He never would've guessed the last person. They hid their feelings so well that he mistook every about the man as looking at everything with indifference.


	9. Chapter 9

Chris was feeling light-headed. He had been feeling like he was going to throw up ever since he had eaten. His mind warped the food that was placed in front of him as some unidentified looking soup. The floating pieces of carrots and meat had transformed into cut off fingers and eye balls. Shaky hands brought the first spoonful to his lips but he put it back down, uneaten.

He wasn't going to eat what these people were trying to force down him no matter how hungry he was.

To his horror, he saw Ezra eating the horrid stuff without scruple. If he could get it down, then maybe it wasn't so bad, Chris thought. He tried again and got five scoops down before pushing the rest aside. It tasted worse than it looked, if that was possible.

The people who had Ezra and him in the room kept going in and out. None of them looking familiar, but addressed him as if he was supposed to know them. He eventually tuned them out, staring at an ant that was crawling to the corner of the room to hide away in the crack that was there. Chris only looked up after the strange men left again, taking their horrid poison food with them.

Ezra was sliding off of his bed again and joined him on his to sit beside him.

"Shall we go home soon, mister Larabee?" Ezra asked patiently, knowing the man hadn't heard a word the others had said.

Chris frowned as he tried to understand what the other man was saying. Then he remembered that they were supposed to be trying to get back home. He grabbed Ezra's arm with his good hand.

"We need to get back." Chris said urgently.

"Yes, our friends here are going to help us get there." Ezra smiled.

"Friends." Chris repeated the word and then let go of his grip on Ezra's arm. He turned back to looking at his corner.

Ezra however picked up the hand again.

"Vin, Buck and Nathan have come to take us home. We don't have to worry anymore about the hunters."

At the mention of 'hunters' the blonde turned to Ezra in a panic.

"No, they'll always find us. There's no escape. They'll put us back in the cage and torture us like they did Owen."

"Who is Owen?" Ezra frowned in confusion.

"Dead." was all Chris said before closing his eyes, letting the drugs take effect.

The last words he said were mumbled, "Please don't go too."

"I'll stay with you." Ezra sighed and tried to relax alongside Chris' sleeping figure.

The next day Chris had decided he was ready to get out of bed and stretch his legs. It was still pretty early and Ezra was still sleeping next to him. The delusional spell he had the day before from his fever had subsided and he was thirsty and hungry. There was a cup and pitcher for him to help himself. Shaky hands grabbed the pitcher, but he had to grab it with both hands to keep himself from spilling the water. Even with both hands, most of the water ended up outside of the cup.

The sound of something falling and water dripping mad Ezra startle awake and sit up in bed. He saw a curled up Chris on the floor screaming.

Climbing out of bed, he knelt by the blonde's side.

"Calm down, mister Larabee. What's wrong?" he asked.

Chris looked up at Ezra, "I'm such an idiot. I spilled all the water we had left."

Ezra looked at the pitcher and cup before picking Chris up and help him stand.

"We'll just have to get more wont we." Ezra said, trying to calm the man.

It was like a switch turned on in the man and Chris became serious. "It was my mistake so I shall get it myself. You stay here where it's safe."

Chris grabbed the pitcher and held it up against his chest, making his way to the door.

"I'm sure it's best to stick together. That way we're both safe." Ezra said.

Chris thought about it, trying to understand the logic, but with his mind still fuzzy he just nodded.

The two men shuffled out of the room to the stairs, both men in their night clothes. Ezra held onto Chris as they went down the steps to make sure he wouldn't fall. Once they were downstairs, Chris proceeded to the doors.

"Wait mister Larabee." Ezra whispered. "We can just get water from the kitchen."

Chris didn't stop however, but kept going outside. Ezra, with one foot in a splint, hobbled after the blonde. His patients was thinning, but he didn't want something to happen to him while he was right there to watch him.

The temperature outside was chilly and Ezra shivered. He looked around for the other man who was making his way to a horse's drinking hole.

Rolling his eyes, he made a note to make sure neither of them drink any of that water in the pitcher when they returned to the room.

As he made his way over to the man who was dipping the pitcher in the trough, he saw three men in the dark making their way over to the oblivious man.

"No!" Ezra yelled as he tried to make his way over faster to stop them.

Chris put up a fight, but with an injured arm he didn't stand a chance.

One of the men took Chris while the others came after Ezra. Ezra didn't turn around though, he kept heading towards them. He didn't know what the hell he was thinking, but all he could think of was Chris asking for him not to go. Three punches were landed on his targets before he was restrained and being dragged in the same direction as Chris.

He gave a loud whistle, which he hoped that his old friend had heard. Ezra also hoped that Vin was still sleeping outdoors like he usually does. The tracker was a light sleeper and should've heard the yelling.

The sound of a horse whining was heard down the street as Chaucer came galloping towards them. To his surprise, Pony had also broken out of his stall and was running to help his master. From somewhere he couldn't see, he heard Vin's gun firing. One of his kidnappers fell, wounded in his leg.

Chaucer and Pony surrounded the other man, halting him from going any further with Ezra. When he tried to walk around them, one of the horses would kick out at him. The man got irritated enough and pulled out his pistol. Ezra clasped his hands together and brought them against the back of the man's knee, making his legs buckle. Ezra scrambled on the ground for the fallen gun. The man however stepped on Ezra's ankle, making the man scream in pain. Chaucer didn't hesitate to use her hind legs to kick the man three feet away. The man didn't get up after that, but he was probably still alive. A few broken ribs though.

Vin came running over and slid to a stop next to Ezra. Ezra looked around as the horses stood nearby, not fully settled. Pony was still restless.

"He's gone." Ezra murmured as he continued to search for Chris.

"Don't worry, both men were taken care of." Vin said.

"No, they got mister Larabee. They took Chris. I was trying to stop them." Ezra said, growing worried.

Buck and Nathan soon appeared with Donny.

"What happened?" Buck asked.

"Someone took Chris. Able to stop them from taking Ez too." Vin explained.

"What were you two doing out here?" Nathan asked, checking over Ezra's leg while the others went to the stable to get their horses.

"Mister Larabee wanted to refill the pitcher." Ezra chuckled softly.

"Hell, you boys can't just sit in bed and heal properly. Always have to make some great scene." Nathan grumbled.

"I'm going to go help search for him." the gambler said determinedly.

"To hell you will." Nathan growled. "You're going back to bed to heal."

"He doesn't recognize any of you. If you go out there and find him, he's more likely to attack you. I've already been through this with him. He knows I'm real."

Buck and Vin, who had returned with their horses looked at each other.

"You guys never listen to me so I don't see why I even bother." Nathan grumbled in resignation.

"Because you have a caring heart, Mister Jackson, which we all appreciate." Ezra grinned.

Donny saddled Ezra's horse for him, and Pony was saddle. The horse's reins were tied to Chaucer's horn saddle to walk along side. Ezra took a few minutes getting on his horse and after he was in the saddle, he had to keep himself from groaning in pain from his ankle.

"You going to be alright?" asked the lady's man.

"I'll be fine once we start moving, Mister Wilmington." Ezra drawled.

The group rode in the direction that Vin took them. Following the trail left by the kidnapper and Chris.

"You know why it's such a beautiful thing, why hunting will always be considered a sport?" the man asked, dragging the half conscious Chris with him. "It's because of the thrill. You have control over whether they live or die. You can see the fear in their eyes, and tell once they know they're about to die. 'Fight or flight' they call it. Well I can't have all my prey escaping at once. That will only set things back and I'll have to find more."

The man dropped Chris roughly on the ground and began walking to his feet with a coil of rope.

"I have big plans for the future of hunting, and you shall be my prize prey. You head shall be mounted on the wall with all the other predators that my family has killed over the years. I think I'll put you next to the first one I killed. It was a fox. I know it's nothing impressive, but for a ten year old, it's thrilling."

The man tied Chris' feet together and tossed the other end over a branch in a tree.

"Overseas they have this thing where they stuff their animals after taking the guts out. If you want, I can do that instead. Since I have the rope and knife. It should take only a couple of minutes before you bleed out if I slice open your gut. My father wanted to try the stuffed animal idea. Maybe that's more suitable for my longest surviving prey."

"Go to hell." Chris murmured.

The man only laughed, "You still have fight left in you. That's good. I thought I broke you already."

Chris' eyes got wide with anger as he suddenly remembered the man's face. He was the one who disguised himself as he went into Blackberry and then buzzed around Chris until he got him outside so his friends could knock him unconscious.

He had tortured most of the other victims and bragged about sending his younger brothers out in the forest first and killing them. His sick friends helped him in his disturbed game. Chris however, he enjoyed making him watch as he tortured the others. He would even sit outside Chris' cage and talk about how he would kill his next victim.

'If you had one of your friends here, and you had to choose between them and one of these strangers, which would you choose? If you don't then they both die.'

Chris had been thankful that none of his friends had been there with him. It left him completely by himself with no one to talk to, but he at least had the insurance they were safe.

Ezra being there had made him nervous if the man would find him and go through with his threat.

 _Where was Ezra?_ Chris had seen the gambler running towards him and the other two men going after him.

"I think your friends are late in returning." Chris said with a half-smile.

If Ezra was safe then that was all that matter. He was probably o far gone to ever go back home.

"No matter. All things die in the end." the man said dismissively. "And it would seem that your time has come."


	10. Chapter 10

Chris squirmed as he was lifted off the ground by his feet. The young mister Waters tied the end of the rope to the base of the tree and strolled to where his waist was to Chris' eye level.

"I never liked this part." the man said as he pulled out a knife. "I don't like having to kill off a magnificent animal. It means that it's over and I'll have to find one better than you. Are your friends like you? Are they as strong and fast?" he knelt down so that their eyes met. Holding up the knife, he played with it against Chris' cheek. "Do you think they'd break slower or faster than you? You may not act like it, but you're as much of a savage as the rest of the men I killed. I saw that friend of yours you were hiding with in the forest. I'm going to find him next, maybe do some things to him before I break him."

Chris shifted under the knife, cutting his cheek, but he didn't care. He was being tested, and the man was planning on going after Ezra.

"You'll never lay another finger on him." Chris growled.

"Is he that special to you?" Waters grinned and stood back up to retrieve something from a bag sitting next to the tree. "Well what if I was to make him less of man, huh, what would you do? Does that get you angry? Does that get you spitting angry!"

Chris growled and tried to reach Waters with his still functioning hand.

Waters grinned like a crazy fool.

"Got your blood pumping again? Why don't we end this in one last glorious fight? You verses me. Prey verses predator."

The man came back with another knife and stuck it in the ground underneath Chris. Chris was barely able to reach it, but he grabbed the blade and did his best effort to pull his upper body up so he could reach the rope.

Waters paced back and forth, waiting until Chris fell from the tree and again landed on his bad shoulder.

Chris suppressed his cry and pushed himself into a fighting stance with his good hand holding the knife. Unfortunately, Chris wasn't a lefty, nor was he fond of fighting with a blade.

Waters played with his own blade in both hands before finally keeping it in his right.

"Stalling won't do you a thing." the man grinned.

"I ain't stalling." Chris slurred. His headache was returning and he felt like he was going to throw up, but the man pissing him off was a great way to keep him focused.

Making the same mistake as Buck when he fought the Spaniard, he lunged with his knife and only caught the blade with his arm. Staggering, he tried to prepare for another attack. The best thing to do in a situation where you clearly didn't have the advantage was to stay calm and remain on defense.

"You're slowing down." the man observed. "Don't tell me your friend was only worth one failed attempt. Maybe you don't care for him after all, or you'd like to see him dead yourself. If you want, before I kill you I can let you have the honor of killing him. I think that would make a beautiful ending wouldn't you think? Then I can have you both stuffed in your final moments. I'll even have you place in my room."

"You sick sonofabitch!" Chris growled and swung his knife, once making the man step, the other was met with the other blade.

The other man pushed back with his blade, making Chris grit his teeth.

If his hand slipped then he'd most certainly would get stabbed.

"I think it's time we end things." Waters said and gave a crushing blow to Chris' right shoulder.

Chris then screamed and dropped to his knees. He was able to continue to hold onto his dagger, but the pain was making it hard to keep this up much longer.

"Good bye my pet, we had some good times while it lasted." Waters said as he brought his knife down to stab Chris in the chest.

Chris, at the last minute grabbed the arm, holding it just above his chest. Using all of his strength, he pushed back, still holding onto the arm. Using his bad arm, he grabbed the knife that he had dropped and stabbed the man in the stomach.

Waters looked surprised at first by the feeling, blood slowly trickling from his mouth, and then he gave a bloody grin.

Chris twisted the blade in the man's gut and pushed deeper till the man staggered back. Surprisingly though, he was still holding onto his knife. Chris didn't let go of his arm.

"So the prey becomes the predator. A savage like the rest." Waters laughed.

Chris pulled out the knife from the man's stomach and stabbed him in the side of his neck.

He just wanted the man to shut up.

Vin, Buck and Ezra made it to where a rope was hanging from a tree and two men were hunched over. Buck and Vin quickly got off their horses with their guns in hand.

Ezra saw from on his horse, Chris repeatedly stabbing the man over and over again. He was covered in the other man's blood and he seemed to be crying.

Buck and Vin pulled him off and away from the body. Buck had to tear the knife away from his grasp.

"It's over! Chris. It's over now." Buck said, trying to calm the blonde down.

Chris stilled and just sat there with hate in his eyes and tears running down his cheeks.

"Let's get you back and cleaned up." Buck said.

"I'll see if we can get Donny and some others to get Waters." Vin offered.

Chris was helped onto his horse and Ezra kept him upright as they headed back into town.

Chris never left the room again. He stayed in bed only getting out when nature called. To his friend's relief he started to eat and they didn't have to worry about him getting enough fluids. For Nathan, he was the perfect patient.

Ezra on the other hand couldn't wait to get out of the room and back in the salon. He'd play a couple rounds of poker and talk to the locals before paying Chris a visit upstairs.

The others had also stopped into see how their leader was doing. He never said anything, no one except Ezra a couple of times, just staring off into the corner or sleeping.

"You think he's going to bounce back from this one?" Vin asked worriedly. The rest of them were seated at a table together eating their meal. Nathan had brought Chris' up earlier.

"I don't see why this one has effective him so." Buck sighed, "It's almost worse than Ella Gaines."

The others all shifted uncomfortably thinking about the horrid woman.

"I'd say that Waters guy was the male version of her." Vin murmured.

"He was dead set on having Chris wasn't he?" Nathan agreed, "I mean the other survivors were in the jail asleep. Why take Chris who could've called for help?"  
"Mr. Larabee wasn't in his right mind to do much of anything." Ezra said softly.

The three looked at the gambler.

"What happened in the forest when you were with him?" Buck asked finally.

Ezra shrugged, "At first he seemed his normal self; helping people escape from their cages that they were being held in. After he got me out though, it was like he was acting different. He'd look at me funny, but didn't say why. The next day he just left me alone in the woods." Ezra didn't have to tell them that he tried to kill him. It wasn't necessary. "He's just not sure what to believe is real is all. I'm sure once he's in familiar territory he'll be fine." That was what he hoped would happen.

"And the reason why you two are so close now? I've never seen him actually prefer your company before over ours. Then again we haven't had to deal with something like this." Buck said, taking a bit out of his chicken.

Ezra looked down at his plate, "I'm not really certain why he's changed towards me. Probably, I assume it's because we've both experienced what it's like being in the forest, and he knows I'll be more understanding about what he's seen and done then someone who's seen him after it was all over."

"Vin's been on the run, constantly looking over his shoulder because of that Eli Joe guy." Buck pointed out.

"I understand what Ez is getting at." Vin said after a while, "What Chris and Ez went through was different then having to be careful of which town you entered or looking over your back and keeping an eye open when you slept. Some of these people, Chris too probably, were tortured and then treated like animals. They were left out in the cold with hardly anything and no resources of food and probably little water. Getting sick which probably doesn't help you sleep which is already a scary thought to them if they might be found and killed."

"Damn." Buck said softly, "I wish I could've put a bullet in him myself."

"How about we focus on getting Chris and the rest of these men back home. Some families are coming in tomorrow to pick their loved ones up. Donny and Wendy said they'll make sure the rest get back safely." Nathan sighed.

"So we're headed out tomorrow then."

No one said anything, but they were all thinking it; would Chris be able to make the trip?

That night Ezra laid in his bed playing with his deck of cards. Vin had went out that evening with Buck to the Waters' homestead where they found a few more disturbing things and the possessions of all the people they killed and kidnapped including Chris and Ezra's guns and clothes.

Waters' friends who were killed and all the other killed victims were to be removed from that area and the victims would be sent to their loved ones while the hunters were to be buried in an unmarked grave.

The gambler looked over to Chris when the man began coughing. He wasn't convinced that he was better, but the man played his part well.

"Mister Larabee, I know I'm not one you'd technically ask for advice from or even generally care to listen to what I have to say, but believe me when I say that there are times to hide behind a fake expression, and there are times when you just need to let your friends care for you. After being without friends for a long time, I finally understand what I've been missing."

Chris sat silently in bed listening to his roommate until he was finished, "You're right. I'm not fine. I've been far from fine for many years now, and I don't think I'll ever be fine again. I told myself that up to this day, but I was lying to myself. Buck, Vin, Josiah, Nathan, you, hell even JD. You've all managed to push yourselves into my life and made me live for something again. I'll never be what I once was, but I don't really remember what that is anymore."

 **A/N: So as I was writing this, I noticed that I had gone pretty far into the rabbit's hole with this one. Apologies to the probably not satisfactory ending ahead of time.**


	11. Chapter 11

The next day the five men parted from Blackberry at two in the afternoon. They rode slow for the still injured ones and took breaks often.

When they reached Four Corners, JD was the first one to run up and greet them.

"You all were gone longer than I expected. I thought we should go and help you all, but Josiah said that we needed to stay here in case something happened. Geez, Ez and Chris sure look awful."

"And good afternoon to you too, Mister Dunne." Ezra said with a half-smile as he slid off of Chaucer's saddle slowly and patted his neck.

Chris took a little longer getting down, but once he was, he headed straight for his spot in the salon.

"Somethings never change." Buck smiled.

"Judge Travis is here too, was waiting until you all got back." JD said.

"Well I'll go talk to him." Buck sighed.

JD took him in the direction of where the Judge was at while the rest went into the salon after giving their horses to Yosemite.

Chris was at the table where the seven peacekeepers usually sat with a bottle of whiskey in front of him. It was partially drunken out of. The men took their seats around the table an ordered their drinks from Inez. JD and Buck came in ten minutes later while the rest were already on their second and third round. Buck flirted a little with her as she returned with their drinks, but other than that they kept to themselves. It was just a time to just relax before they had to start going back to work.

Everyone retired early, even Ezra didn't stay up late to play a game of poker. The judge was in town till tomorrow when the stagecoach came. He was to talk to Chris before going.

No one knew what he was planning on saying, but then again it could be about the job that Chris had did for him just before he was kidnapped.

The sound of birds chirping outside his room woke him up, and Chris got dressed silently in his rented room. He threw on his gray shirt and a pair of black pants before his socks and boots. The spurs were still missing, but he didn't really care.

Finishing up getting ready, he splashed water over his face and ran his hand through his hair before picking up his black hat and leaving his room.

He was in the restaurant ordering something to eat when he heard his name called. Turning around, Chris saw a smiling Mary behind him.

"I heard you got back yesterday with the others. I'm glad you're alright. Does your shoulder bother you much?" she asked, pointing to the arm that was still in a sling. He still hand most of that side tightly bandaged up.

"It's fine." he said softly.

"Well if you need anything then I'm always willing to help. I know that everyone else got a break but you, Buck and JD. Maybe you should take this opportunity to just take it easy."

Chris gave a pause so it wouldn't sound harsh when he finally said, "No. I prefer to keep on working to keep me busy."

He tipped the edge of his hat before gathering his food and walking to the exit.

The last thing he wanted was time off so he could think about everything that happened in the forest.

His fever was almost gone thanks to Nathan's medicine and plenty of fluids, sleep and food. The last thing he wanted was a mental relapse of his time being hunted like an animal.

Stirring his way to the livery, he sat outside Pony's stall and ate his food. He'd offer the horse some of his carrots and pat his nose.

"Everything's going to be okay." he told his horse, but mostly to himself.

Ezra was happily hobbling down the street, tipping his hat to everyone who had passed him. He had received lots of well wishes and food from the lady who ran the restaurant, warm rolls from Mrs. Potter with sweets for Chaucer, and the judge told him that he should take it easy until his leg was fully healed. That meant no patrols for him.

As long as no hooligan came in trying to cause trouble in town, he'd be able to relax for at least a week, probably more if he pretended it was still ailing him.

While he was making his way to the livery he saw Mary walking around with her newspapers. Ezra hadn't seen her since leaving to go find Chris. He also remembered that some people suspected a relationship possibility existed between them.

Mary spotted him and she walked over to him with a smile across her sympathetic face.

"I wanted to thank you for going to go and find Mr. Larabee. I'm so sorry it came with you getting hurt yourself."

"I assure you it was nothing. It is my job after all to be of assistance." he smiled.

"I just hope that you or one of the others can convince Chris that he should rest instead of trying to get back to work." she said before walking away.

Ezra watched her for a bit before continuing to go to the livery.

In different circumstances, Ezra thought that he and the rest would probably agree that that was better to rest. Chris however needed something to distract him, and the only thing he had was to throw himself back into work. It would probably slow down his shoulder and arm getting healed if he used them, but the man didn't have much to do.

He decided that he'd find something with Vin for their leader to do. Ezra even thought about asking Buck for some ideas since he knew Chris best.

Stepping into the livery, he saw a man's leg sticking out from a stall. It was cladded in black and Ezra began to panic. Shuffling faster, he passed Chaucer's stall to Pony's. Chaucer made an irritated noise, but he ignored it. Looking down, he saw Chris laying up against Pony who was laying down so that he was closer to his injured owner.

Chris looked up at Ezra when he saw him.

"Problem?" he asked.

"Just making sure you didn't die out here." Ezra said with a small smile. "How long have you been out here?"

"Maybe three or four hours. Heard JD come into get his horse to visit Casey. That was about an hour ago."

Ezra looked down at the black boots and noticed that they were missing the spurs. The blonde didn't seem to notice, or just didn't care.

Slowly Chris got up and moved pass the shorter man.

"Unless you want Chaucer to bite your fingers for supposedly giving Pony his treats, I think you should go see him."

Ezra turned to the retreating figure, "Mrs. Travis says you aren't going to be resting while you recover."

"Yeah."

"Why?" Ezra knew that was a stupid question, but it just came out.

Chris turned around a bit and gave a half-smile, "There ain't no rest for the wicked."

Chris sat at a table with Judge Travis. He had been stalling to meet the man, but thirty minutes before the coach was to pull out, he decided to appear from the livery.

"I know you probably won't listen to me when I tell you that you should rest. I don't think ordering you to would have an effect."

"Well sir, a man follows orders up to some degree, and I think this is just one I don't particularly want to listen to."

"What you went through, no man should ever have to experience. Pushing yourself to return to work isn't good for you."

"I think I know what I don't need and do." Chris said in a low voice.

Travis sighed, "As I said I can't force you."

Chris watched him leave and waited a couple more minutes before ordering some whiskey. He'd drink until his senses were dull, until he couldn't feel anything.

At night Nathan had made the excuse of checking Chris' stitches and bandages to see how the man was doing. The man had been hiding most of the day, not really talking to anyone.

The rest of the seven were at their table eating dinner and drinking when he came back after a couple of minutes.

"Not in his room?" asked Buck, seemingly not surprised.

"How long is he going to be doing this game of hide and seek?" Nathan sighed as he sat down.

Vin shrugged and Ezra kept silent. Chris was probably back with Pony again, enjoying his silent company. He'd been away from him for a week.

When the others retired, Ezra stayed up for a couple games of poker with some other patrons.

He was in the middle of his third game when he saw Chris ride by.

Ezra frowned. It was too late to be heading out anywhere.

Dealing himself out, he quickly ran to saddle Chaucer to follow.

Chris had set up camp by a tree with a good size fire already made. His bedroll was setup close by and he had his flask out drinking it when Ezra appeared from out of the dark.

Chris hadn't pulled his gun when he came up which made Ezra realize that the man wasn't even carrying it. Climbing off his saddle, he tied Chaucer's reins to a bush and took off the saddle.

"Shouldn't you be wearing your gun belt mister Larabee? It's more effective that way."

"I've killed too many people to trust myself that I don't shoot someone accidently." Chris said dryly.

"Well I'm glad you're thinking of my safety, but you should also think of yours." Ezra said as he sat down in the light of the fire. "Why are you out here?"

"Feels weird to be indoors." the blonde answered as he threw in another branch to his fire.

"But it's pretty lonely out here don't you think?"

"Safer for everyone else that I'm out here."

"I don't think that's true. I think a lot of people prefer you being around then not. Your name and presence alone can scare off some people."

"You should go back to town." Chris murmured and began to get ready for bed.

"Can't. Too dark to see where I'm going. Seems like you're stuck out here with me for the night." Ezra smiled.

Chris rolled his eyes.

"Well you better have your own bedroll cause I ain't sharing with you."


	12. Chapter 12

Buck and Vin were growing worried. They had went in to check on Chris early that morning to see if he had went back to his room, but his bed was still made. Vin felt that they should check in with Ezra, feeling the need to and they found the southerner's bed was still made as well. Buck went to the livery and found that both Chaucer and Pony were not in their stalls.

"Where could they have gone?" Buck asked, scratching his head.

"I can probably track them. Still early enough that people haven't been traveling in and out so their trail can still be picked up." Vin said.

"Then let's do it." Buck nodded.

The two got their horses saddled quickly and with Vin leading the way, they headed east.

After about ten minutes into the ride, Buck started to think out loud.

"You don't think they went back to the forest do you?"

"Why would they?" Vin asked, not looking up from following the hoof prints.

"I don't know. You said that Chris might be not right in his head. Maybe he feels like he has to go back."

Vin stopped his horse and Buck did the same and waited for his companion to tell him what was going on.

"They're close." Vin said, getting down from his horse.

"Did they start going on foot?" Buck asked.

"Not sure, but I can hear horses nearby.

The two men tied their horses to a tree and followed the noise. They kept their hands on their guns just in case as they approached a burnt out campfire.

Two men were huddled under a blanket, looking rather snug.

Buck relaxed himself and smiled. Vin had a full grin on his face. No matter how many times they stumbled across the two sleeping together, it was always a funny sight to behold. They kept their little secret, not letting the others know about the former gunslinger and gambler's new found closeness.

Chris was the first to stir, and when he saw Ezra he gave him a shove that only had the result of aggravating his shoulder.

"The hell Ezra, I told you last night no!" the blonde growled, but there was no heat in his words.

"Like I said last night, I did not come prepared to be up stargazing. Maybe next time you want to go on an impromptu night out, you'd think to forewarn me." Ezra grumbled as he shuffled into a kneeling position beside the bedroll and yawned.

"I didn't ask you to follow me." Chris huffed. "I don't need someone looking after me like I'm some frail thing. I especially don't need you doing it."

Ezra rose an eyebrow, "Well I'm glad things will be going back to normal then."

He stood up, but stopped in his tracks when he finally noticed that they had an audience. His face turned red and Ezra looked over his shoulder and found that Chris hadn't noticed yet.

"Well I can certainly say that was short." Buck said finally, gaining Chris' attention. "You boys back to Ez irritating Chris and Chris wanting to strangle Ezra?"

Ezra wanted to reach up and touch his neck, but refrained from doing so. He didn't know if Chris remembered but he hoped he hadn't. To think it actually almost did happen where Chris almost choked him to death.

Vin saw that the gambler was looking a bit uncomfortable and decided to change the subject.

"You boys heading back to town yet or going to stay out here a little longer?"

Ezra gave a tired shrug.

Chris stood up after finishing rolling his bedroll. "I'm going to go head out to my cabin. Just want some time alone for a bit."

Vin nodded.

Buck smiled, "Well you know Nathan will probably be by a couple time to make sure that shoulder of yours heals properly."

"Tell him not to worry about it. I'm just going to stay low for a while." Chris said as he finished saddling Pony.

Ezra quickly did the same.

"Do you want us to ride with you over there?" asked Vin even though he knew the answer.

"No I'm good." Chris said, getting on his horse.

The other three watched as the ex-gunslinger rode of in the direction that would lead him around Four Corners as they made their way home.

Buck did most of the talking as they rode back, mostly about the girls he somehow had time to meet with in Blackberry. He then jumped topics and addressed Ezra.

"So I heard from that you believe that Chris and Mary getting together would lead to the end of our little group, Ez."

Ezra stole a glance at Vin, but didn't allow his interest in the topic to show on his face.

"I did calculate that if enough of us had begun to settle down, then the rest of us would probably go off to do their own thing since we are under no contract anymore to stay in Four Corners."

"Yeah I'm surprised you stayed with us. I thought after you had done your time to earn your pardon, you would head out in search of the next big score."

Ezra gave a wistful smile, "Well, I would be lying if I say that this place hasn't somehow become a home to me. First place I ever felt wanted and needed."

Buck leaned over in his saddle and gave a playful push to the gambler, "Well we like having you. Even Chris, though he don't say it. He has his own way of showing his feelings."

"I'm not expecting Mister Larabee to go out of his way to make me feel welcomed in the group more. He was the one who initially invited me after all, and gave me a second chance when I messed up incredibly. For me that's enough."

"Still, the man can ease up on you a bit."

"I kind of like their banters." Vin grinned.

Ezra smiled too, "I must be honest when I say that some of those I instigated on purpose."

"You're like Casey trying to get JD's attention." Buck shook his head with a grin.

Ezra straightened himself in his seat and his face became stoic.

Vin rose an eyebrow at this reaction. Was he offended at Buck's comment? He did basically say that Ezra's poking at Chris to set him off was like Casey trying her hardest to gain JD's attention because she had a crush on him. The tracker wasn't one to judge on that subject, but he never thought of it that way. Hell, JD had a boy crush on Chris when he first met the gunslinger. Vin wouldn't call his closeness to the blonde other than they were similar in mind. Maybe the gambler had some admiration that he just hadn't verbalized in anything besides playful jabs to just talk to the usually silent man.

When they made it back in town, Ezra excused himself to go and collect something he said he had gotten from express shipping.

When he picked it up, he smiled to himself and made his way back to his horse which was tied up outside the shop. He almost ran into Mary because he wasn't paying attention.

"My apologies." he drawled as he tipped his hat.

"No it's fine." she smiled and took noticed of the box wrapped in brown parchment paper tied with cord string in Ezra's hands. "Get something for yourself?"

Ezra schooled his expression into a smile, "Indeed. When you go through almost a week without certain things, you just have to treat yourself to somethings."

It was a lie, but the lady couldn't see that. The thing in the box wasn't even for him.

He got on his horse and rode out of town at a steady pace.

When the cabin was in sight, he took a minute to figure out what he was going to say. He hadn't really thought things out, and now the gambler was doubting whether or not he should've came or not.

Chaucer seemed to have made the decision for him and began walking again, continuing to the cabin and possible water.

Ezra let the horse do what he wanted while he continued to think.

To his surprise, Chris was outside his cabin, sitting in a wooden chair the man himself had made earlier.

He hopped off his saddle and brought his box along with him.

Chris looked up and watched the gambler approach.

"Well you didn't wait long to come messing with me. What is it now?" Chris sighed.

Ezra rolled his shoulders back and frowned, "Well could you start off by shutting up so I can figure out what it is I'm going to say."

Chris frowned, "Funny, never thought you'd ever not have something to say."

Ezra gave up and just tossed the box to the blonde.

"Fine, I just won't say anything. You never like people dragging things out anyway." he huffed.

Chris looked at the box. "What's this?"

"Well, I know how Mrs. Travis and the judge want you to take it easy and rest, pretty sure the rest of the seven would agree. I thought this might get you to do that." Ezra explained.

Chris opened the package and pulled out a pair of silver spurs that shined in the sunlight. The black leather was of fine quality. Chris' frown deepened in confusion, "Spurs are to keep me busy?"

"What, no." Ezra shook his head and then approached. He took the box from Chris' hands and then pulled a piece of paper out and handed it to the blonde.

Chris read it and then read it again. He looked up at Ezra looking more confused.

"Why would you do this?"

Ezra shrugged, "When you met me, I didn't have anything. Oh I had money and I thought the only thing I ever needed was more of it. You taught me that I was wrong, and you gave me something more valuable. Something I didn't even know I was missing. I have a family now. Well I consider you all my family even though most of you don't realize it. Vin knows, but no one else. I really respect you, even if you make me do things I detest like patrols early in the morning. This is the only way I know how to say that I'm grateful to you and—"

Ezra was cut off by the blonde getting up from his seat and pulling Ezra into a hug. The gambler was rigid at first, but then he relaxed into the hug, allowing his arms to come up and wrap around the man.

He could feel tears forming in his eyes and he blinked them away.

This was the first time he had ever received any acknowledgement, any form of affection from anyone.

"Ezra, you annoy the crap out of me sometimes, but don't think for a second that I'd want it any other way. You're a part of our made up family group. Call us all misfits, broken and outlaws, but hell, if we're good enough for you then I'm happy to call you brother." Chris said into Ezra's ear. The hot breath tickled his ear.

Ezra did let the tears fall then and held onto Chris tighter.

After a few more minutes Chris gently let Ezra go.

"Now I guess I should start thinking of names."

Ezra gave a huge grin, his gold tooth showing, "Well you got a couple of days before he arrives."

"I still can't believe you bought a stallion for me." Chris shook his head, but was smiling.

"I heard from Mister Wilmington that you used to own a lot of horses and liked to raise them."

"Well it ain't easy doing it. That's another Job altogether." Chris snorted.

"That doesn't sound like a bad name to me."

"What? Job?"

"Yeah, I like it. Has humor."

"And only you would think to have that in the naming process." Chris shook his head.

"I'd like to think it's a talent of mine." Ezra beamed.

 **A/N: I'm sorry but I was ready to cry at the end while writing this. Absolutely love these two and having Chris making Ezra feel that he is loved, because the poor man didn't grow up with that. Anyway, this is the end sadly. Thank you all for reading! Love you all!**


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